It seems these DIGEST posts are becoming a quarterly affair (if I can say that after just two posts spaced apart by the seasons), which is probably a rhythm that quite suits my workflow and consumption patterns these days. Everything is a little slower and more deliberate.
But I do relish the opportunity to look back and reflect on what I’ve been enjoying, noticing patterns and themes as they develop, hoping that I am sending something good your way.
So here is my most recent round up of the things that I’ve been loving, and have caught my eye. No big or heavier bits of writing, just some short snappy commentary.
If there’s ever anything you’re loving and you think I should share, please let me know!
Yoga bits & teaching
I am loving teaching my Monday Perinatal Yoga Lunch Club, it has been so affirming and wonderful to return to a regular teaching slot, and to reconnect with students. To be in a place where I feel like I can serve my wonderful community again is so fulfilling. If you are interested in joining (or know someone who might be), I would love to see you there!
Theo’s recent series on some very pertinent aspects of contemporary yoga teaching has been a great read, I look forward to each one coming out and they are free for all to read. As always she is insightful, compassionate, and provoking.
I’ve been working my way through Anjali Rao’s Yoga as Embodied Resistance, and am absolutely loving it. It’s a masterclass in socio-cultural history, storytelling and supportive by uncompromising calls-to-action. I’m about halfway through and the amount of highlighting I’m doing in the book is substantial! (aff link)
After many years of listening to True Crime podcasts to help me fall asleep at night, I’ve been trying to transition to other options to help me rest. I stumbled across this collection of nidras and have really been enjoying them. I’m pretty fussy when it comes to recorded practices, but find these to be lovely. This playlist and this playlist also do the trick most of the time.
I’m really looking forward to teaching my upcoming workshop Cultivating Inclusion, Care and Nourishment in Our Teaching, which is mostly based on a lot of the work that went into my book (co-edited with Theo). It’s almost two years since The Yoga Teacher’s Survival Guide came out, and it feels like a great time to be returning to these evergreen themes in yoga teaching.
Books, Bites & Other Bits
I have been obsessed with making pho recently. Big bowls of steamy, spiced broth with noodles and enough herbs to constitute a salad have seemed like the perfect meal to get me through these early days of spring when it feels like the cold windy winter is overstaying its welcome. I made a big batch recently, freezing jars of broth and portions of chicken, so a delicious and heartening meal is never far away. I really liked this round up of recipes, and ultimately went for something in between a few of them, making do with what I had in the cupboards and fridge.
This week while prepping for an upcoming teaching session, I put together a list of postpartum reading recommendations and thought I would share them here too. They’re a mixture of practical, philosophical, support and memoir. Some of them I read and they were profoundly useful in my own pregnancy and postpartum, others have been more recent additions but just as inspiring. They might be a great read if you are pregnant, reflecting on your own postpartum, or are wanting a thoughtful and useful gift for someone in this phase of life. (aff link)
I recently read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry, which is one of the more beautiful books (in writing, ideas and illustration) I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying. It’s short and snappy, but Kimmerer’s writing is some of the best out there, and the ideas it discusses have really been echoing back at me since finishing it, the sign of a truly worthwhile book I think. (aff link)
In terms of Substacks to recommend, here are a few I’ve enjoyed in the past few weeks. It’s wonderful to be discovering writers whose books I adore sharing in this space as well. It feels like a delicious added bonus. Amy Liptrot, Katherine May, and Linda Hartley all featured below.
And that is all for now. Wishing you happy practicing, reading, eating and listening.
Harriet x
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